A Little Piece of the Pie

2/14/11  All righty then ... Woke up at 7:15am to get ready to go back into Kiev by waiting in turn to use the shower. Went all the way down stairs and into the school bathroom to relieve myself of the fluids I obtained during the evening prior. Once I was back in the kitchen making my instant " gold Nescafe" coffee, I took a moment to look at the morning activities outside the window. People walking to and fro,children going to school and "what!" As I peer down to check the temp I saw the gauge read 9 degrees. WOW, OH fun. Needless to say I had to break out the heavy artillary and, yes thank you to Chris Barber. I put on the full armour of your protection. That right, everything I had was on my person. Did I mention it was very cold?
Our first stop was to catch a bus for a while and to catch another bus to the court house to file some papers.
I figured this might be a good bet for using the bathroom, well, let me tell you. If I could attach the photo I took I could save alot of lines in this blog. Their toliet room: first you could smell a hint of deer permiating from the far end of the hall, first floor north end. As I push thru the door I immediately knew I was in the right place, but my eyes and mind were not quite yet prepared for this vision. Now this is locked into my hard drive until I can download and delete with the help of the staff at Harbour. (Book me for an encounter please) In Ukraine, a hole in the floor is acceptable to do your business whether standing or squating. Thank you Jesus, this was not a number two moment. Now onto the bus stop. Think of a short yellow bus with rustic overtones, and a chipping paint motiff. Circa 1970. As I find myself being the good Samaritan, I let everyone on the bus, then quickly stepping on before the doors abrubtly shut without warning or concern. I squeeze my way onto the second step, the bus driver is stopping for more riders. A petite young lady steps on and muscles her way in. Now remember, she is on the step lower than me, and my back is facing her.  Because she is applying her Ukrainian heritage into my back and causing me to rise up on my toes and arch my back, all the while, trying not to intrude on the Ukrainian wrestler that is in front of me. I immediately relapse into a Yoga class moment - think Morning Salutation. As I am holding this arched back, tippy toed balancing act, hanging from the overhead bar, I look at my trusted companion, Caroline. And because she loves this type of humor, find her laughing hysterically. Finally reaching our next stop, we fall out of the bus. (Onto an icy sidewalk ofcourse) We shoot into the mall for some skin care products, yea, no more dry skin for me. Thank you Nivea. Lunch at another mall to kill time. Sushi for Caroline and Gayla. And 2 Geese for me (chicken and salad). Across another street, to the metro (you remember the subway from a few blogs ago?) and then bus, and finally American soil. We are at the Embassy to sign passport and visa papers.  American speaking peeps, clean water and real toliets await us. Well almost. After finding the WC, I did my business and finished. As I was turning around to flush, I read a sign which is posted on the wall behind you," Do not put paper down the tiolet". Now at this point, I am looking around to see where in the world are they asking to put this paper. I see a small lid covered container under the sink and said... "Oh well, should have posted the sign so I could read it while sitting, not squatting. Anyway, I did inform my wife of the sign. However, I did not ask her if she followed their request. Harisho, (ok), repeat the travel process back to the Ark. Back in time, you guessed it. Dinner. Beef with kraut, potato pancakes and bread with butter. Going to end my day now. Got to go. Catch you Wednesday.